Automatic railway-switch lock.



PATENTED MAY 17, 1904.

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C. SULFER. AUTOMATI RAILWAY SWITCH LOCK.4

ArPLIoATIoN FILED APR.

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CSULTBR. AUTOMATIC RAILWAY SWITCH LOCK.

APPLICATION Imm ATB. 27. 1901.

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No. 759,984. PATENTED MAY 174, 1904. C. SULFBR. AUTOMATIC RAILWAY SWITCHLOCK.

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e-l llllll mn l|| No. I759.934.

Patented May 1'?, 1904.

CHARLES SULFER, OF SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, ASSIGNOR TO INTERNA- TIONALRAILWAY SUPPLY CO., RATION OF ILLINOIS.

OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPO- AUTOMATIC RAILWAY-SWITCH LOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 759,934, dated May 1'7,1904.

Application filed April 27, 1901.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES SULFER, aciti- Zen of the United States,residing at San Antonio, county of Bexar, and State of Texas, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Railway-SwitchLocks, (Case No. 3;) and I do hereby declare the following to bea full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enablepersons `tively and quickly locked in the position to which the saidparts have been so moved.

A further object of my invention is to provide an automatically actinglock for the switch-lever and a supplementary latch, which latter Ishall designate the safety device, arranged in the handle in such aposition with reference to the other member of the locking device-namelya stud--that the safety-latch will engage with said stud and hold thetwo parts in position as irmly as if the said parts were positivelylocked together by the locking mechanism, the arrangement being suchthat after the switch-lever has been once unlocked with the` key theparts may be temporarily locked together by means of the saidsafetylatch at such times when it is not desirable to lock the partspermanently together. Finally the two parts may be so pel'- manentlylocked together by holding the safety-latch leverin such position thatthe bolt thereof will be withheld from engagement with itsrespectivemember and by further depressing the lever bodily until thepermanent locking or latch bolt is automatically thrown into engagementwith its respective member on the said stud.

My invention further consists in the combinations and arrangements ofthe various Serial No. 57,793. (No model.)

parts, as hereinafter pointed out and specifically claimed.

In the drawings, Figure l is a vertical section oit' my switch handle orlever, showing the stud permanently locked in the said handle by itsengagement with the locking or latch bolt thereof. Fig. 2 is a similarsection of my switch-lever, showing' the stud temporarily locked bymeans of the safety-latch. Y Fig. 3 is a similar section of myswitchlever, showing the stud entering the perforation in the handle anddepressing the safety-latch. Fig. 4 is a front view of my switch-leverwith the covering-plate removed. Fig. 5 is a transverse section of thelever and lock. Fig. 6 is a similar section of the lever. The foregoing'sectional views are all taken on the correspondingly-numbered lines ofFig. 4. Fig. 7 is a side view of the case or frame containing thelockingmechanism of the switch. Fig. 8 is a plate adapted to cover the frontside of the lever, which contains the sliding cover for the keyhole ofthe lock. Fig. 9 is a detail of a supplementary plate adapted to beplaced inside of the large plate shown in Fig. 8 for con-v taining thespring and sliding mechanism of the keyhole-cover. Figs. 10 and 11 aredetailed views of the latch-bolt.

In all of the views the same letters oitl reference indicate similarparts.

In the drawings, C is a broken-away portion of the switch-shifting levercontaining the mechanism of the locking and safety-latch devices.

c is the upper extension of the lever.

c/ is a plate for covering the perfor-ations in the lever in which themechanism is contained. This plate is chamfered around its edges and isadapted to slip into the said leverfront under the dovetailed portions cand c7 and. to be secured by screws, which are adapted to be inserted inholes 02 and c3 and which pass through the said plate for holding'thesame in position.

01 and c5 are ribs cast within the perforation of the lever for thepurpose of guiding the lever and holding it in the desired position withreference to the stud.

D is the safety-latch handle adapted to operate the safety-latch bolt(Zfoperated by means of the stud Z2 of the safety-latch bolt and thefork that partly surrounds the said stud of the handle D. The handle Dis pivoted upon a stud CZ, which is attached firmly in the orifice ofthe lever. Stud CZ passes through the aperture or perforation made intothe switch-lever in which the safety-latch handle D is pivoted. The openhelical spring (Z3 is adapted to distend the safety-handle D and toraise the safety -bolt CZ. When the handle D is depressed, thesafety-bolt CZ is withdrawn from the path of the stud within theaperture of the lever.

e is a quadrilateral frame or case for holding the mechanism of aself-contained lock. By means of said lock the stud Z) is locked andretained within the perforation of the said switch-lever.

e is a spring latch or lock bolt, which is yieldingly held down in itslowest position by means of an open helical spring @2, which forconvenience surrounds the upper rounded portion of the said lock-bolt.e3 is a notch made in the said spring-latch lock-bolt, with which atrip-dog e is adapted to engage. An extension e* of the trip-dog cfpasses through the frame of the said lock and into the path of the studA fiat spring' e7 is adapted to exert the necessary pressure against thetrip-dog e to hold it in position ready and to cause it to engage withthe notch e3 of the bolt e. @s is a pivot upon which the said trip-dogmoves. A notch e9 is made into one side of the latchbolt, into which thekey passes when the said key is turned for the purpose of raising thesaid latch-bolt out of the path of the stud b for the purpose ofunlocking or disengaging the locking member' of the device. el is thekeyhole into which the said key is inserted, and en is the key-stud inthe said keyhole, over which the said key passes.

@12 is a lateral extension from the trip-dog e6, and it is this portionof the said dog which is adapted to engage in the notch @3 of thelatch-bolt e.

A channel el is made yinto a plate e of the lever C immediately abovethe keyhole for containing a helical open spring e, which bears againstthe fixed part of the plate at the upper end and against a slidingkeyholecover adapted to slide in said plate at its lower end and retainthe keyhole-cover in the position shown in Fig. 3, so as to maintain thekeyhole closed by said cover to prevent the entrance of moisture, dirt,and other foreign substances.

e is a front plate, between which and plate el? the keyhole-cover @13 isfitted, so that the latter may be raised against the pressure of thespring el to insert the key into the keyhole el". Small screws e passfrom the inside of the perforation to the said lever into the plate efor holding the latter in position.

The use and operation of my device are as follows: Then the lever C,which is pivoted to a switch-shifting mechanism, is depressed upon thestud for the purpose of locking the parts together, the stud b firstcomes in contact with the safety-latch Z and forces the latterdownwardly against the pressure of the spring (Z3. Then the lever C isfurther depressed, the spring cl3 will force the safetylatch bolt Z intothe notch b2 of the stud. By means of this safety-latch the stud Z1 andlever C may be temporarily latched together. Then the handle D of thesafety-latch device is compressed, the safety-latch bolt CZ will bewithdrawn from the notch b2 of the stud I) and the parts or membersthelever and the stud-maybe again separated. Then the two elements of thelocking device are forced entirely together, so that the latchbolt ewill engage with the notch b* in the stud I), then the safety-latch boltZ and the notch 3 will engage, and the lever C cannot be again operateduntil the switch-key is used. To unlock the lever C from the stud b, soas to'swing the said lever into position to turn the switch mechanism,the switch-key is first placed under the spring-pressed plate @13 andthe said plate raised by lifting the key until the keyhole @lo isuncovered, when the key maybe inserted therein. rlhe key is then turnedin the lock until it engages under the shoulder of the notch e9 of thespring latch-bolt e. The said latch-bolt is thereby raised until the end@12 of the trip-dog e snaps into notch e3, and thereby the saidlatch-bolt is supported, being removed from the path of the stud having.been withdrawn from the notch b* thereof. At the same time theextension e* of the trip-dog @G is lowered into the path of theprojection 67 of the stud b. Then the lever and stud are separated, thesaid projection of the stud again raises the projection e* of thetrip-dog e, which action disengages the end @12 of the trip-dog and thenotch e3 of the spring-bolt,and the said bolt being again released itdescends to the position shown in Fig. 3 to again engage with the notchb* and again lock the two parts together. Then it is desired totemporarily lock the two parts-the lever and the stud-together, thesafety device D may be used.

It will be seen that the locking elements of the device are placed sothat they will latch together before the engagement of thepermanently-locking mechanism.

The safety device may be operated by the manipulation of the handle D.

vTo unlock the permanent-locking members, the use of the separableswitch-key becomes necessary.

It will be noticed that my lock contains only two major portions-namely,the safetylatch e and the trip-dogs e-and that the two portions areoperative without the springs e2 IOO IIO

IIS

and @7, respectively. These springs, however, are desirable for thepurpose of producing a quick action of the respective pieces.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States, is-

l. In a railway-switch-locking device, a lock comprising a casing havinga stud-receiving recess, a sliding bolt, and a pivoted latch-dog havingone end extendingI into the said recess, and its other end arranged forengagement with the bolt, substantially as set forth.

2. In a railway-switch-locking device, a stationary member having a studsecured thereto, a movable member adapted to be moved to receive thestud, and a lock associated with the movable element comprising alatch-bolt, and a trip-dog adapted to control the movement of the bolthaving one end extending into the path of the stud, substantially as setforth.v

3. In a railway-switch-locking device, a stationary member having a studsecured thereto, an inclined projection on said stud, a movable elementadapted to be moved to engage the stud, and provided with a recess toreceive the same, and a lock associated with the movable elementcomprising a latch-bolt, and a trip-dog therefor having one endextending into the stud-receiving recess and arranged in the path of theinclined projection on the stud, substantially as set forth.

4. In a railway-switch-locking device, a removable locli-case, alatch-bolt adapted to be vibrated therein, a triangular-shaped tripdogpivoted therein, one end adapted and arranged to engage said latch-bolt,and the oth er end extending through the walls of said case,substantially as set forth.

5. In a railway-switch-locking device a removable lock-case, e, providedwith an opening in its wall, a latch-bolt, e, adapted and arranged forreciprocation therein, and provided with a notch e, a spring c? adaptedand arranged to depress said bolt, a pivoted tripdog e", having an endei adapted to engage said notch in the bolt when the latter is in raisedposition, and an end e4 extendingthrough the opening' in the wall of thecase e, a spring c7 arranged to tend to move the dog c to position toengage the bolt, means for raising the bolt, and means for coacting withthe end e* of the dog to remove the end e5 from engagement with thebolt, substantially as set forth.

6. Ina railway-switch-locking device, a hollow handle in which thelocking mechanism is located, and a safety-latch consisting of thehandle I) and the latch-bolt CZ adapted to be moved thereby,laterally-extending studs d2 partially incloscd by forks on the handleD, stud d upon which handle D is pivoted, compression-spring d3, and ameans such as a plate c' for retaining said safety device within saidhandle, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specilication, in the presenceof two subscribing witnesses, this 25th day of April, A. D.

CHARLES SULFER. Witnesses:

FORE BAIN, M. F. ALLEN.

